Elena's Choice: Season 3 Aftermath
by sweetpeaj8
Summary: Takes place when Elena wakes up in the hospital in the season 3 finale. Summary suck, I know. But review, and also tell me what you'd like to see in future chapters! Rated M for later scenes and language
1. Chapter 1

Burning...That's what I felt like. As if my whole being was on fire, engulfed in flames. But somewhere in the burning that swept over me, I felt free as if someone had lifted the world from my shoulders. But as the feeling of freedom grew, so did the burning, to the point where it was unbearable!

Jerking upright I gasped, taking in the much needed air. "Elena?" came a voice, hiccuping as he or she came closer. My hazy eyes instantly shifted to the person my name was spoken from. I squinted trying to get a better look at the person in the room with me, but to no avail my eyes were clearing over.

"Do- Do you remember me?" asked the person, as my vision cleared, revealing Stefan's anxious face. Stefan? I simply nodded, looking around at my surroundings I noticed that I was in the morgue...Morgue? The place they store dead bodies? I looked back to Stefan, who noticed the confusion that swept over my face. He brushed away the hair that had stuck to my forehead. "Shhh! Everything will be okay. You're okay!" he said softly, trying to comfort me. Which did the exact opposite.

"W-Where is he?" I asked shakingly, looking into Stefan's eyes. I watched as his brows furrowed. "Who?" he asked stupidly, taking my hand in his. I pulled away not wanting to be touched, as I shifted to the edge of the cold metal like table I was placed on. Allowing my feet to touch the floor, I flinched when they made contact. The floor was freezing compared to my burning skin. I placed my feet back on the cold tile softly, waiting for them to adjust to the temperature.

Once my feet got comfortable to the temperature, I tried standing on my own, which didn't go so well since I almost face planted into the tile. But thankfully Stefan caught me, "Who, Elena?" Stefan asked again, holding onto me a little to tight. _Who do you think? SpongeBob?_ I thought angrily. I stepped out of his grasp, just as the door swung open, revealing a severely pissed of Damon.

Damon..._ '"I know Bonnie-You're right. You and my mom both are, I just...Can't bring myself to tell him. At least not tonight. I'll call you later!" I said sighing, as I hung up._

_"Katherine." said a deep voice. A man a little taller than me, came up to me. His hair was as black as the night sky, his eyes...My gosh they were beautiful. I was confused as to why he called me Katherine though. "I'm Elena." I said warily. His face look distraught, confused. "Oh..." he sighed heavily, shaking his head."I'm sorry." said the man, "You just really- remind me of...someone. Anyways I'm Damon." said the guy, Damon smirking.' _"Elena!" Damon said rushing to me, pulling me into his arms. He hugged me tightly. I didn't know how to react to the memory that I'd just witness, but I sure wasn't gonna let them know that I knew.

Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I sunk into him. Resting my whole body weight against his tall but muscled frame. He smelled of rain, his favorite brand of scotch and his leather jacket. It was intoxicating none the less. I pulled away reluctantly not wanting to hurt Stefan's feelings anymore than I had already done. "We should get her home." Stefan said for the first time since his brother had arrived. Damon looked out the window for a brief moment. "It's nearly dawn. You need to feed." he said matter of factly.

I opened my mouth to protest but no words came out. Closing it, I tried to summon up what saliva I could to speak. "F-Feed? As in blood?" I asked cautiously. "Of course, what else do you think we mean by feed?" Stefan said sarcastically. I swallowed the remaining saliva, and tried my hardest to not freak out. "C'mon before the sun comes up. I don't like my prey cranky." Damon said smirking, trying to cheer me up, which didn't work.

After the guys checked me out of the hospital, they took my back to the boarding house. Once entering I felt awkward, so I went and sat in the loft on one of the love seats. Shortly later, I heard soft distant footsteps walking towards me. I looked behind me quickly, seeing Damon pouring himself a drink. Afterwards he came and sat next to me. After a few moments of silence, Damon started to speak; "Are you going to do it?" he asked. I looked at him, confusingly. "Uhh...What do you mean?" I asked him, taken aback. "The change..." he said slowly, as if he were talking to a two year old. Which in my case, I guess he was.

I swallowed, "Oh yeah, that. I-I..." I started to say, but my voice got caught in my throat, as it started to tremble. I looked everywhere but at him, even when he got down infront of me. "Elena...What is it?" Damon asked, taking my hands in his, as he stood on his knees. I forced down the lump in my throat. "I didn't want this, Damon! I wanted to get married, have children, watch as they grow up. Now I can't have any of that! All because of...Me." I told him shakingly.

"What do you mean it's beacause of you?" he asked confused. "When Matt's truck went off the bridge tonight-" I was cut of by Damon, "Last night. It's morning now, sweetie." he smirked. "Whatever! When we landed in the lake, both of our seatbelts were jammed. Then Stefan appeared, and went to save me, but me being me, I refused. So he saved Matt first. And I passed out from hitting my head against the passenger side window! But what I don't get is how I woke up like I am now?" I said raking my brain for the cause of this.

Damon sighed, "When I was with Ric, I knew something was wrong when he started to fall down. I knew right then and there he was dying...Which meant you were too, which is why I came back. Meredith told me that your case was worse than she left on, you didn't have a concusion when Jeremy and Stefan brought you into the hospital. You had a cerebral hemorrhage, bleeding on the brain, as the vampire doctor put it. As to how you're alive right now, I'm guessing Meredith gave you some of my blood." Damon finished his little all-you-need-to-know speech.

"So that means, I either drink blood...Or I die." I said solemnly. "If you look on the bright side, you'd get to be with your bunny-rabbit killing machine of a boyfriend all your life. Who by way the made a wrong decision in saving Matt first." Damon murmured rudely. Standing up he finished his scotch and went to make himself another. I raised an eyebrow at him with anger, standing up I abruptly followed him.

" I wanted him too! Don't blame Stefan. You would've done the exact opposite" I yelled frustrated, taking away the glass bottle of scotch he had in hand. "You're right I would've, but at least you'd still be human. You know, I don't even know why I fucking spent all that time going after you! All you do is complain." he yelled, his face was red with anger; the veins in his forehead were begining to pop out. He snatched the bottle away from me, and poured his drink. He looked at me with such an anger that I couldn't stand to have him mad at me any longer. I reached out to touch him, "Damon I-" but I was cut off. "You know...You really are like Katherine after all." he said abruptly stopping me mid-sentence.

I was taken so aback that I didn't feel the tears that had started to slither their way down my cheecks. I didn't know what to say, what he said chilled me to the core. "Elena, shit! No, I'm sorry!" he said pleading for forgiveness. I couldn't think, not now, not after what he just said. So I did the only thing I could do, run upstairs to my bedroom. Throwing the door shut, I locked the knob. I knew that wouldn't keep him out, if he really wanted to get in. With tears in my eyes, I walked over to my previously made bed, and sunk into a deep depression.


	2. Chapter 2

_I can't believe I just said that! I didn't mean it, I was just pissed off. _I thought gravely as I made my way to my bedroom, passing Elena's room on the way. I stopped momentarily to hear her sobs, from the other side. Pain and guilt flooded over me, as I braced my hand against the door frame. I was tempted to knock the door off it's hinges. "Elena?" I heard called from downstairs. _Jeremy. _I thought, using all my strength I had left, to back away and go to my room like I had planned.

Entering my room I went straight towards my closest, pulling out the suitcase I had in case this was to happen. While at my closest I grabbed all of my clothes and other belongings. After packing my suitcase, I hid it underneath my bed, in case anyone comes into my room. _She'll never forgive me...If she does then she's stupid! She doesn't deserve someone like me. In fact she doesn't deserve me at all, maybe she should be with my brother. He seems to win everything else I care about._ I thought, thinking deeply.

"I should probably leave now and get it over with. But I won't to make sure Elena will be okay." I said quitely to myself. Walking back out into the hall I knocked on her door, surprised when she answered. "What do you want?" she asked, broodlingly. "Ouch." I said faking mock hurt, when really it did hurt me. It killed me, actually. "I want you to feed. I don't want to wake up later and find out you died." I said sadly.

She sighed, "Bite yourself." Elena said simply. _Okay she's definitely upset. _I did as I was told, and out streched my bleeding wrist to her, as she did to me. Taking her wrist in my hands I bit down softly taking in the taste of her iron riched yet sweet blood, not wanting to hurt her anymore than I already did, I didn't take much. I kept my eyes on her as I drank, I wanted to make sure she drunk enough to live. Pulling away, she dropped my wrist, as I did hers.

Wiping my mouth on my sleeve, I noticed Elena's mouth was covered in blood. Reaching up I smudged away the rest with my thumb. "Is that all?" she asked, suddenly. My brow furrowed. "Uh...Yeah, I guess." I said, remorsefully. "Thanks." she simply said in return. I cleared my throat, "No problem." and with that I went to officially leave the one girl that made me feel like I was worth something.

Elena's Pov

After Damon and me took each others blood, I went back to sleep. Waking up I heard voices downstairs, all but one. Damon's. Looking at the clock, I saw it read 8:45. "Man, he must've been really thirsty to leave this early." I muttered getting out of bed, and stretching. After getting out of bed, and brushing out the tangles in my hair, I went downstairs.

Once downstairs I saw that Bonnie, Caroline, Stefan and Jeremy were all huddled around the dinning room table. Sneaking up on them, I listened to their conversation. "What do you mean he left?" Caroline asked, surprised. "He left, his stuffs gone from his room...I can't believe he stuck to it though." Stefan answered.

"Stuck to what?" Bonnie asked, curious. Stefan sighed, "Damon and me made a promise...whoever Elena didn't pick had to leave town." he said gravely. "What!" Jeremy said. "You know that'll hurt Elena." Jeremy continued, angrily. "Yes, I know this. But she also came back for you guys as well." Stefan added, thoughtfully. "So you mean that Damon packed his stuff and left? Just like that! Man you should've thought of this a long time ago, Stefan. Now you and Elena can get back to your love life." Caroline mused happily.

_Wow! I knew Caroline always wanted me and Stefan together but that bad, to get rid of Damon? _I thought.

"No, they won't. On our way home from Denver, Rose appeared in the car, next to me. She said and I quote '_Damon challenges her, surprises her, makes her question her life, and her beliefs. Elena changes him as well, makes him a better person. All in all Damon's either the best thing for her or the worst._'"

I couldn't take it any more. "Is that true, Jeremy? Did Damon really leave?" I asked boldly, walking into the dinning room. Everyone turned abruptly, obviously startled. "Uhh...Yeah. Why?" He asked, in return. I shook my head, "Just wondering. And Caroline I knew you didn't like Damon, but enough to see him heartbroken over one of your friends? And as for me and Stefan, I don't know if we'd ever be together again. So sorry about you're luck. Haven't you heard that old saying 'If you fall in love with two people, choose the second, because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen in love with the second?'" I asked, finally realizing what I hadn't before.

Damon was true. He always was, and always will be. He went against what I wanted, to keep me safe and alive. Even if I was to be angry with the outcome, I was still saved by Damon, and Damon alone. When I'm with him he just...consumes me. Sure he says the wrong things at the wrong times but majority of the time he doesn't mean it. It's anger he's pushed down below the surface.

"Elena...I-I'm sorry, it's just Damon's so-so reckless." Caroline said, sadly trying to reason with me. "You don't think I know this? He went against almost everything I said and done to keep me alive, when I tried to keep you guys alive! In fact, if I'd gone to Damon, I wouldn't be a vampire right now." I told them, pissed off.

"Wait you turned and you didn't even tell me?" Stefan asked, "When?" he added. I looked over at him, "Early this morning. Off of Damon's blood...Speaking of which, where did he go anyway?" I asked, curiously, letting my anger subdue. All I got in return was a shoulder shrug. "I don't know. He never said where he was going." Stefan added. _Of course, he didn't._ I thought, walking back up the stairs.

Walking into Damon's room, I sat on his bed, breathing in the scent of him as if he was still here. Shifting onto my back, I closed my eyes. '_If I'd met you first, maybe things would've been different!_' I remembered me telling Damon in our heartbreaking phone call. "Why did you compel me to forget, Damon?" I whispered, sadly to myself!


End file.
